Knott’s Berry Farm Hosts Boysenberry Pie Eating Contest

Already known as the home of the boysenberry, and the host of the annual Boysenberry Festival, Knott’s Berry Farm kicked it up a notch this year and hosted the world’s first boysenberry pie eating contest. With the help of Major League Eating, the most recognized name in competitive eating, the Knott’s Boysenberry Festival Pie Eating Championship was held on Saturday, March 28th and was a huge success. I’ve never seen anything like this before, and I liked it!

A short while before the event began, the pies were brought up on stage and some of the competitors started to prep their eating areas. This event attracted several of the top ranked competitive eaters in the world, including 8th ranked Michelle Lesco (left) and 11th ranked Brian Dudzinski (right):

There were a total of twelve eating areas on stage for the twelve competitors. Each one was outfitted with five cups, five bottles of water, and started with a few plates of pie. Each plate contained two quarters of a whole pie, weighing in at one pound of pie per plate. The winner would be whomever ate the most pie in just eight minutes:

Some of the competitors, like 14th ranked Steve Hendry here, opted for beverages other than water to help them wash the food down once the competition began:

The mayor and his lovely wife opened up the ceremonies and welcomed the crowd to the event:

The mayor then handed it over to Sam, the Major League Eating representative and emcee:

During the introductions, some competitors were a little more fashionable than the others, like 35th ranked Mary Bowers, always known for her style :

When you see a competitor with tattoos of smokers and bacon strips, you know he is taking this very seriously. Or perhaps he just really likes food:

With mere seconds to go before the start, most of the competitors were already hunched over the table and poised to start digging in:

Once it started, everyone started shoveling pie in their mouth with both hands:

Joey Chestnut, the number one ranked competitive eater in the world, was on hand to try and claim another world record to add to the 36 that he already owned:

It didn’t take long for things to get very messy. Mary isn’t looking so well:

Some of the competitors looked like they had to fight back the gag reflex a few times:

Once time was up, Joey looked like he was glad it was over. Miki Sudo, the top ranked female competitive eater in the world, and 4th ranked overall, figured she’d clean her hands on Joey’s shirt:

Being the number one seed in the world, Joey Chestnut was expected to walk away with the trophy, but you can tell from the sweat and look in his eyes that he fought hard to earn it:

While waiting for the official results, several of the competitors could be seen counting their empty plates. Remember that each plate equals one pound of pie consumed:

In addition to $2,000 cash, the winner also got to take home this cool trophy:

With a total of 14 lbs of pie consumed, which is seven whole large pies, Joey Chestnut was indeed crowned the Knott’s Boysenberry Festival Pie Eating Champion. Miki Sudo finished in second, having eaten 11 lbs of pie:

After the pie was eaten, and the champion crowned, there was nothing but carnage left up on the stage…and some free pie if you don’t mind mushy leftovers:

It’s unclear to me if this was a one-time party or if it will become an annual event. Personally, I really enjoyed it, and based upon how much the crowd was getting into it, I hope it becomes an annual event. Were any of you there? If so, what did you think?

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